


This is it? This is it!

by Wortspiel



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Bad Wolf Bay, Drama, Eventual Fluff, F/M, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, May be a bit OOC, Post-Episode: s04e13 Journey's End, Tags Are Hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2019-07-18
Packaged: 2020-07-08 05:48:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19864516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wortspiel/pseuds/Wortspiel
Summary: This was it for her. Left behind. For a second time.He watched her shoulders droop helplessly as she stared at the empty spot where, just a mere blink of the eye ago, the TARDIS had faded into nothing. She looked so small and forlorn on the empty grey beach. He felt like it.~Rose is left behind with the metacrisis tenth Doctor and both of them have to deal with what they have and make the best of it. Which is hard, when your thoughts are still with someone else. A bit of distraction is needed desperately.~





	This is it? This is it!

This was it for her. Left behind. For a second time.

He watched her shoulders droop helplessly as she stared at the empty spot where, just a mere blink of the eye ago, the TARDIS had faded into nothing. She looked so small and forlorn on the empty grey beach. He felt like it.

Everything his life had been composed of was gone with _him_ and his damn huge ego. Doubt etched its way into his mind, gnawing cruelly on his remaining calm. It did not help that he felt Jackie’s questioning stare bore right into the side of his skull.

That was when she turned and he caught her gaze. Rose Tyler. Beautifully cheeky Rose Tyler. He had it believed to be impossible to ever see her again. But there she stood. To his anguish, she was seeing right though him, past him. Anywhere but his face.

He felt it, he was sure of it. He felt something shatter deep inside him the exact moment she stalked past him, stiff and unyielding, without as much as sparing him a single glance.

~

They made way to the hotel in silence. Neither of them had dared speaking a word as they shared a taxi for the short drive. Even the usually bubbly Jackie, who had simply informed them it was the same hotel as last time, had afterwards lost her drive to prattle. If he hadn’t felt that immensely discouraged himself, he’d probably been amusedly impressed by the heaviness of their bad mood, if it was able to render even her mute for once.

The occasional sigh of either women made him acutely aware of the situation’s dire development.

Having reached their destination, he was relieved to learn he was at least left with enough ‘timelordiness’ to have kept his knowledge and with it his linguistic proficiency in several human languages. He wasn’t able to avoid noticing his lack of speed and alertness, however. Therefore, it took him quite a few moments to gather the necessary Norwegian words to book them their room for the night.

After his hobbling, but successful talk at the reception he gathered up the key card that was slipped to him across the table and returned to Jackie and her awfully quiet daughter.

“We got the last room. Lucky us.” He informed them scarcely and all three made their way up the stairs.

The room they found they found themselves in was tiny and sparsely furnished though clean and warm. A large bed took up most of its space, leaving only little room for two nightstands, a sideboard topped by an old flat screen and a worn out teal armchair beside it.

The tension between the room’s occupants was almost palpable until the Doctor eventually declared his possession of the armchair for the night.

~

Half an hour later, all three sat around a large box of pizza that was carefully balanced on a stack of towels between their bed and the armchair. Each of them was silently munching on a slice, mulling over the day’s events.

“So,” started Jackie and watched the Doctor with curiosity. Obviously she was unsure of how to start a conversation sensibly. There was so much that neither of them was ready to talk about. Yet.

“How have you been?”, she eventually finished rather lamely with a shrug of her shoulders.

_Miserable_ , would have been the first answer that came to his mind. Of course that wasn’t entirely true. He had been through quite a few adventures with lovely people after he had overcome the initial depression of losing Rose to the other dimension. However, his current state of mind prevented any positive memory of successfully surfacing to lighten his mood. Nevertheless, he replied evenly and gave a shrug.

“I’ve been carrying on with what I do. Runnin’ around, makin’ new friends, savin' people, overthrowin’ a few governments.”

At least his reply coaxed a little laugh out of her. Rose instead remained silent, sipping on her tea with not much of a reaction at all. He watched her out of the corner of his eyes in worry before focusing back on her mother.

“What about you?”

That was it. Now he’d done it and started the waterfall again. There were waves of words tumbling from Jackie’s lips, quickly accumulating to ‘thrilling’ stories about her family, about Tony’s first steps, Tony’s first trip to the loo, Tony’s first words and whatever first things a child could have or do. He did listen as intently as his battered mood allowed with the occasional nod or hum of approval and sooner as he thought, and to his own surprise, he caught himself smiling softly - even if it vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

It simply felt good to hear that Jackie had arranged herself with the situation and settled down with her family, actually enjoying what she had been gifted with. Internally he chastised himself for his doubt and temper. Maybe it wasn’t so bad here after all. Clearly a matter of perspective.

When Jackie had finished her meal and her chatter slowly but surely ebbed off, she excused herself to take a shower. Much to the Doctor’s dismay for he did not feel ready to share the empty room with Rose alone for now. It would mean either being ignored, or worse, confronted. Right now he was not sure how to deal with either of that.

She had, guessing from the way she stared into the distance, not found her peace with the situation at hand. There was a lot of emotional chaos bubbling beneath the surface. He felt it.

Soon after, it proved to be a very disconcerting version of both. First she ignored him, _then_ she lashed out.

The spray of the shower had barely hit the tub in a rumbling prattle, as Rose huddled up into a ball atop her side of the bed. Knees drawn close to her chest, she burrowed her face into her arms and the Doctor winced to every sob that shook her frame. Perched on the edge of his armchair, he battled with the human rage of emotion that surged through his body.

Of course emotional control was a thing to be practiced and therefore not entirely lost to his half-human self, but he clearly struggled more with it than he had ever before.

Searing guilt was the most prominent sensation, restricting his throat painfully. Forcing it to settle, he stood, rounded the bed and seated himself carefully onto the other side of the bed.

Tentatively he reached out for her, but as his fingers brushed her shoulder, she just flinched and turned her back on him.

“Rose, please” he tried then.

His own voice sounded awfully strangled to him but at least it caught her attention.

Not in the way he wished for, though. Instead, she whipped round to him, a wild mixture of hurt and fury swirling in her brown orbs.

Challenging she stared him down.

“Wha’ are ya gonna say, huh?” she spat and the venom in her voice burned his lonely remaining heart.

“Look Rose, I’m him, human but still the same! Same memories, huh?! Don’t ya think I know that? You made that point clear!”

He did not know how to respond. In all honesty, that was what he’d been about to say. In words picked more carefully, but still. There was nothing for him to add.

Hence, he let her rage on. At least it would rid her of what seething inside her.

“That does not bring _him_ back, does it?! All alone in his spaceship now!”

He remained silent. She was right after all. He was slowly beginning to get a grip of what was churning her up so badly.

This wasn’t a fit of self-pity for being left behind with 'only' himself. Far from it. She felt sorry. And guilty.

“Ran off again, that selfish prick! Left me behind! On that godforsaken beach! _Twice!_ To be on his own! After all I’ve been through to get back to him!”

Her fingers curled into the bedsheets as further sobs shook her body. He let her. Sometimes crying helped best to sort through your feelings.

“He’ll be fine” he responded calmly after a moment, despite the whirlwind of emotions that still raged through his own chest.

It only earned him a strangled hiccup from her.

All the while, watching her, he had racked his brains for an appropriate way to distract her from what neither of them could change. An idea had formed in the back of his mind.

“I know he will”, she sniffled eventually, shivering helplessly under her exhaustion.

“He always copes somehow. I jus’ wish I- I jus’… Ya both’re such idiots-”

_SMACK!_ The impact caught Rose off-guard, shocking her out of her trembling sobs in an instant.

She gasped wide-eyed as the fluffy pillow dropped from her startled face into her lap.  
“Enough of that. Doesn’t help him. Doesn’t help you or me.” The statement had her blinking confusedly for a second.

"You didn't- Did ya jus’?" she spluttered.   
She didn't come further than that. A chocked cackle cut her off and her unbelieving gaze followed the Doctor's down onto the initially white pillow. He really had. Was he serious?  
On the other side of the bed, her bold attacker already lost himself in giggles, while she stared at the exact make-up print of her face onto the pristine pillowcase. Tearstains and all.

A low grumble bubbled up her throat as realization dawned on her.  
"How dare ya. Seems I got stuck with the bigger idiot."  
Her hushed words drowned in his laugher until it ceased with a second _SMACK_.  
"Take that!" she hollered bouncing up on her feet, furiously rubbing her remaining tears off with the back of her hand. The bed’s frame whined pathetically under her weight.  
"Rose Tyler" rumbled her opponent in return, already on his haunches, blindly grabbing for a second pillow for his counterattack.

"Be prepared, here I come!"  
And he launched himself in her direction.

  
As Jackie turned off the hissing shower, the first thing she heard were the panicked screams of her daughter, howling and begging for mercy.  
She couldn't remember that she had ever been out of the tub and in her bathrobe as quickly as now. She almost slipped on the wet bathroom tiles, as a loud crash echoed from the main room. Rose’s name on her tongue she threw open the door, stumbled out into the room and straight into a shower of loosely drifting feathers.  
  
There, amidst the slowly descending pillow stuffing, laid her daughter spread-eagled in the crashed remnants of their hotelbed, thrashing and screeching in laugher under the Doctor’s relentless tickle-assault.  
"Rose Marion Tyler!" she thundered and all frantic action froze immediately. Had she really just seen the mighty half-human-half-timelord flinch guiltily or was it her imagination?  
A relieved laugh tumbled over her lips.

  
"I really didn' expect you two breakin’ the bed like _that_."

-

“ _MOM_!”

**Author's Note:**

> So this has started as a random idea drifting through my head and soon developed into a short story. For now it'll be a stand alone. If you are interested in more, just let me know. I may be willing to add some more in the near future if time allows.


End file.
